Study Abroad Insurance Claim

Parents Forum
1

<p>S2 spilled a drink on his laptop while he was in New Zealand on study abroad. There was NZ property insurance included in his study abroad fees, so he filed a claim on that policy. He had to send them his laptop so they could verify that it was broken. The NZ company paid him $430 on his claim. </p>

<p>The laptop was a Macbook, and that didn’t come close to allowing him to replace it. So, he decided instead to file a claim against the student personal property insurance policy we had for him in the states, and he filed to cancel the claim and the policy in NZ and sent them the $430 back. The U.S. policy paid him full replacement cost of the Macbook, and they want him to send them the broken laptop.</p>

<p>Today he was notified by the NZ insurance company that due to some NZ law, he had insufficient coverage on his U.S. policy (some weird law they have which requires huge amounts of insurance coverage), so they can’t by law cancel the policy. They are sending him a check for $430. Aaargh!</p>

<p>He is attempting to do the right thing here. Also, the NZ company won’t send him the broken laptop because they said it became their property when he filed the claim with them.</p>

<p>S2 is unsure whether he filed to cancel just the NZ policy or the policy and the claim. If he didn’t cancel the claim, maybe they will let him do that, but he doesn’t think so. I am concerned about him having filed 2 claims from 2 companies for the same item (even though he did it inadvertently). Does anyone know if he could be in any trouble for that?</p>

<p>He is still phone calling, emailing, and trying to work it all out, but I am concerned about it.</p>

2

<p>Maybe keep a record of the correspondence and don’t cash the $430 check?</p>

3

<p>I know nothing of New Zealand law, but in the US you can cancel a claim on a policy without canceling the policy. If he cancels the claim, they should send the laptop back, but I wonder if it even is still around. I am surprised that the US company paid without the broken item. Since he was “overinsured”, different rules may apply to the two claims. It is possible that he could get paid from both policies on one loss depending on how the policies are written. In the health insurance context, some people have multiple "secondary coverage " policies, and on a rare occasion both pay. The excess goes to the patient. Best to read the US policy over and see just what is covered, and how the existence of other insurance affects a claim.</p>